LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



English Universities and John Bunyan 



ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA AND THE GIPSIES. 



BY 

JAMES SIMSON, 

Editor of 

''sim son's history of the gipsies," 
and Author of 

contributions to natural history and papers on other subjects," and 
"charles waterton, naturalist." 




NEW YORK 

JAMES MILLER, PUBLISHER, 779 BROADWAY 
EDINBURGH : MACLACHLAN & STEWART. 
LONDON! BAILLI ERE, TYNDALL & CO. 
1880. 



COPYRIGHT, l88o, BY 

JAMES SIMSON. 



Edward O. Jenkins, 
Printer and Stereotyper, 
20 North William Street, New York. 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES 

AND 

JOHN BUNYAN. 



MR. JAMES ANTHONY 
FROUDE, in his recent work 
on Bunyan, describes him as 

" A man whose writings have for two 
centuries affected the spiritual opinions 
of the English race in every part of the 
world more powerfully than any book 
or books, except the Bible." 

Such a man may well be called a 
worthy of the highest order, whose 
memory should be held in everlast- 
ing remembrance. The interest at- 
taching to such a character must be 
pre-eminently great, not only as re- 
gards the religious teachings of his 
works, in their influence on the 
mind, life and destiny of man in all 
ages, but also as illustrative of the 
purity of the English language in 
the latter half of the seventeenth 
century. 

Of the personal history of this 
singular man, it may be said that 
we know almost nothing beyond 
the little he told us himself. Part 
of it, with which Mr. Froude begins 
his book, is the following : — 

" I was of a low and inconsiderable 
generation, my father's house being of 
that rank that is meanest and most de- 
spised of all the families in the land." 
And further on, that "he and his wife 
came together, as poor as poor might 



be, not having so much household stuff 
as a dish or a spoon between them." 

Of whom does Bunyan speak 
here ? He was doubtless at least 
well acquainted with the Gipsies, 
and yet he says that he was of the 
" meanest and most despised of all 
the families in the land."* Could 
that possibly apply to any other 
than the Gipsies, who arrived in 
Great Britain not later than 1506 ; 
from which time to the birth of 
Bunyan, in 1628, there had doubt- 
less been six generations of the race 
born in the land. That is a ques- 
tion on which Mr. Froude, in his 
highly conventional work, offers 
no opinion, while he entirely passes 
over the following : — 

" Another thought came into my 
mind, and that was, whether we were of 
the Israelites or no ? For finding in the 
Scriptures that they were once the pecu- 
liar people of God, thought I, if I were 
one of this race my soul must needs be 
happy. Now, again, I found within me 

* He makes allusion to the Gipsies in 
the following passage in Grace Abound- 
ing : — " I often, when these temptations 
had been with force upon me, did com- 
pare myself to the case of a child whom 
I some Gipsy hath took up in her arms, 
' and is carrying from friend and country." 



2 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUNYAN. 



a great longing to be resolved about 
this question, but could not tell how I 
should. At last I asked my father of it, 
who told me, No, we were not."* 

It is hardly possible, it might even 
be said to be morally impossible, 
that a man of Bunyan's common 
sense could have asked himself such 
a question, and taken so much trou- 
ble to solve it, and then gravely 
put it almost in the beginning of 
his Autobiography, if he had been 
one of the common natives of Eng- 
land. Saying that he was not a 
Gipsy, but a tinker, (which in itself 
was primd facie evidence of his hav- 
ing been a Gipsy of mixed blood,) 
was inexcusable in Lord Macaulay, 
as I have shown in the Disquisition 
on the Gipsies (p. 507); and Mr. 
Froude's shirking the interesting and 
important question of Bunyan's na- 
tionality becomes highly reprehensi- 
ble, after all I had written on the 
subject, as alluded to in the accom- 
panying article, entitled The Ency- 
clopedia Britannica and the Gipsies. 

Literature has its amenities and 
courtesies, which no one is privi- 
leged to disregard ; any more than 
he would a demurrer or an injunc- 
tion in law, which act as a complete 
" estoppel " in a case until they are 
argued and removed. And no more 
in literature than in law can a ques- 
tion of fact be begged or settled by 
a supposition ; especially in the face 
of direct and circumstantial evi- 
dence proving the contrary. Mat- 
ters of fact must be proved. And 

* " I have heard the same question put 
by Gipsy lads to their parent (a very 
much mixed Gipsy), and it was answered 
thus : — 'We must have been among the 
Jews, as some of our ceremonies are like 
theirs.' .... Such a question is enter- 
tained by the Gipsies even at the present 
day ; for they naturally think of the Jews, 
and wonder whether, after all, their race 
may not, at some time, have been con- 
nected with them " (Dis., p. 511). 

" Hence, as the tribe is an enigma to 
itself, no less than to others, the ques- 
tion, and the great trouble to solve it, on 
John Bunyan's part, to ascertain whether 
he was a Jew " (Con., p. 157). 



what proof is there that Bunyan was 
not a Gipsy, but an ordinary native 
of England? That question, in- 
deed, admits of no argument ; and 
if any one disputes the assertion, he 
has the opportunity of trying to 
make good his position. In the 
Appendix to Contributions, I said : — 
" Many people, of whom better things 
could be expected, especially in regard 
to crude popular beliefs, of long stand- 
ing, but not religious in their nature, 
practically maintain, with the most 
complacent assurance and sincerity, the 
negative unless the affirmative can be 
proved, or vice versd; which is no proof 
of, and does not even affect, the ques- 
tion either way ; for the negative or the 
affirmative may be true, irrespective of 
the ignorance and denial, or the know- 
ledge and assertion of people interesting 
themselves in the questions at issue" 
{Con., p. 203). 

No one in writing or speaking of 
Bunyan should be guilty of the un- 
graciousness of claiming him to 
have been an ordinary native of 
England, and not a Gipsy, merely 
because he chooses to do so; whatev- 
er support he may find in the loose 
and uninformed popular opinion to 
that effect. If, in disregard of the 
rights of others, he arbitrarily appro- 
priates things as he expresses opinions, 
he would soon get himself into trou- 
ble. Negatives generally cannot be 
proved,* but affirmatives always 
may, but not by suppositions. If Bun- 
yan's nationality can be settled by 
a supposition, there are doubtless 
other questions that can be decided 
in the same way ; in which case it 
would be interesting to have them 

*It is generally asserted that "nega- 
tives cannot be proved," which is not 
strictly correct ; for the evidence in re- 
gard to Bunyan decidedly proves that 
he was not what is called an ordinary na- 
tive of England. In the article entitled 
The Endowfnent of Research, I have said 
that "It is a law in literature, indeed it 
is common sense, that if nothing can be 
said in favour of one of two hypotheses, 
and everything in favour of the other, the 
latter must be accepted as the truth ; and 
this we have in the one that Bunyan was 
a Gipsy " (Con , p. 202). 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUNYAN. 



arranged alphabetically for the fa- 
cility of reference. I have said : — 

" Indeed, it may be asserted that such 
a person has no moral right, not merely 
to publicly or privately express an opin- 
ion on a great variety of subjects, but 
even to entertain one, unless he has 
thoroughly examined them, or had it 
done for him " (Con., p. 204). 

The heading of this Paper con- 
veys the idea that it is intended for 
the Universities of England, and 
for all connected and who have 
been connected with them ; repre- 
senting a part of the population of 
England who are presumed to have 
been taught to reason correctly, and 
appreciate discussion ; and who will 
be above the vulgar prejudice of 
objecting to it being said that Bun- 
yan was a Gipsy, disregardless of 
evidence to that effect. I assume 
that, as a class, they have the intel- 
lectual and moral constitution to 
throw off the prejudice of their 
countrymen at large against the sub- 
ject of the Gipsies, and will do jus- 
tice to it, in all its bearings, after it 
has been fairly placed before them ; 
and that they will not " die Hin- 
doos," with reference to the feeling 
of caste against the race of which 
Bunyan was a member. For it may 
well be said of him that 

" He stands out from among all the 
men of the latter half of the seventeenth 
century, in all his solitary grandeur, a 
monument of the grace of God, and a 
prodigy of genius ; . . . . the first that is 
known to the world of eminent Gipsies, 
the prince of allegorists, and one of the 
most remarkable of men and Chris- 
tians" (Dzs., p. 523). 

To such as have not read what 
[ have written at great length on the 
subject, I may say that being a 
Gipsy consists in blood and de- 
scent, irrespective of every consider- 
ation ; that is, all who have the 
blood and have been brought up 
from infancy to know and acknow- 
ledge it, and have associated and 
(as a rule) married with such, be- 
long to the tribe ; whatever their 



characters or positions in life, and 
colour, mixture of blood, or length 
of descent from the tented stock; 
and however averse to acknowledge 
the fact to the world at large, or 
even to others of the race, in conse- 
quence of the prejudice against the 
name, and the non - recognition, 
hitherto, by society of any member 
of the tribe. In Bunyan's time the 
objection to own the blood was 
much greater, for then it was 
han gable to be a Gipsy, by the 
law of Queen Elizabeth, and "felo- 
ny without benefit if clergy " for 
" any person, being fourteen years, 
whether natural born subject or 
stranger, who had been seen in the 
fellowship of such persons, or dis- 
guised like them, and remained 
with them one month, at once, or 
at several times." 

Of the philosophy of the existence 
of the Gipsy tribe I have said : — 

" Each of them [the Gipsy and the 
Jew] has a peculiarly original soul, that 
is perfectly different from each other and 
others around them ; a soul that passes 
as naturally and unavoidably into each 
succeeding generation of the respective 
races as does the soul of the English or 
any other race into each succeeding 
generation. For each considers his na- 
tion as abroad upon the face of the 
earth, which circumstance will preserve 
its existence amid all the revolutions to 
which ordinary nations are subject " 
(Dzs., p. 499). 

" It is as natural for the Gipsies to 
exist in their scattered state as for other 
nations by the laws that preserve their 
identity ; and although their history 
may be termed remarkable, it is in no 
sense of the word miraculous, notwith- 
standing the superstitious ideas held by 
many of the Gipsies on that head, in 
common with the Jews regarding their 
history" (Dzs., p. 534). 

" If they have no religion peculiar to 
themselves to assist in holding them 
together, like the Jews, they have that 
which is exclusively theirs — language 
and signs — about which there are no 
such occasions to quarrel, as in the 
affair of a religious creed. Indeed, the 
Gipsy race stands towards religions as 
the Christian religion does towards 
races " (Dzs., p. 475). 



4 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUN Y AN. 



" The prejudice of their fellow-crea- 
tures is a sufficiently potent cause, in 
itself, to preserve the identity of the 
Gipsy tribe in the world. It has made 
it to resemble an essence, hermetically 
sealed. Keep it in that position, and it 
retains its inherent qualities undimin- 
ished ; but uncork the vessel containing 
it, and it might (I do not say it would) 
evaporate among the surrounding ele- 
ments " {Dis., p. 534). 

" Thus it is that Gipsydom is not a 
work of man's hand, nor a creed that 
is ' revealed from faith to faith ; ' but a 
work which has been written by the 
hand of God upon the heart of a family 
of mankind, and is reflected from the 
mind of one generation to that of an- 
other " {Dis., p. 457). 

Although he did not say plainly 
that he was a Gipsy, yet 

" In mentioning that much of him- 
self which he did, Bunyan doubtless 
imagined that the world understood, or 
would have understood, what he meant, 
and would, sooner or later, acknowl- 
edge the race to which he belonged. 
And yet it has remained in this unac- 
knowledged state for two centuries since 
his time. How unreasonable it is to 
imagine that Bunyan should have said, 
in as many words, that he was a Gipsy, 
when the world generally is so apt to 
become fired with indignation, should 
we now say that he was one of the 
race " {Dis., p. 517). 

Bunyan might well have taken 
the great trouble he did to ascer- 
tain whether or not he was " of the 
Israelites," considering that the 
Gipsy language must have been 
spoken with great purity by his 
father's family (upwards of 250 years 
ago), including his mother and 
brothers and sisters (many of whom 
he probably had), and by the ex- 
tensive ramification of his collateral 
relations ; of none of whom has 
mention been made by any one. 
Living in or near the village of 
Elstow would imply a recent re- 
moval from the tent; so that the 
immortal dreamer was very nearly 
connected with the original or more 
primitive condition of his race. 
In the Disquisition I have said : — 
" John Bunyan has told us as much 



of his history as he dared to do. It was 
a subject upon which, in some respects, 
he doubtless maintained a great reserve ; 
for it cannot be supposed that a man 
occupying so prominent and popular a 
position, as a preacher and writer, and 
of so singular an origin, should have 
had no investigations made into his his- 
tory, and that of his family ; if not by 
his friends, at least by his enemies, who 
seemed to have been capable of doing 
anything to injure and discredit him. 
But, very probably, his being a tinker 
was, with friends and enemies, a circum- 
stance so altogether discreditable as to 
render any investigation of the kind per- 
fectly superfluous" {Dis., p. 516). 

There are two leading character- 
istics in the Gipsy race — reserve and 
impulsiveness — the first relating 
to himself proper, which we find in 
Bunyan ; for as Mr. Froude says : — 

"At this crisis (1645) Bunyan was, as 
he says, drawn to be a soldier ; but it is 
extremely characteristic of him and the 
body to which he belonged, that he 
leaves us to guess on which side he 
served. He does not tell us himself." 

" On his outward history, on his busi- 
ness and his fortunes with it, he is to- 
tally silent." 

As illustrative of the subject on 
hand, I will give some more ex- 
tracts from what I have published 
on it. 

" The true position of the Gipsies is de- 
scribed as follows : — Here we have eth- 
nology on its legs — a wild Oriental race 
dropt into the midst of all the nations 
of Europe, and legally and socially pro- 
scribed by them, yet drawing into their 
body much of the blood of other peo- 
ple and incorporating it with their own, 
and assimilating to the manners of the 
countries in which they live ; some- 
times threading their way by marriage 
through native families, and maintain- 
ing their identity, in a more or less 
mixed state, in the world, notwithstand- 
ing their having no religion peculiar to 

themselves, like the Jews There 

is in this subject, when fully explained, 
much to interest a variety of societies, 
classes of people, and kinds of readers, 
who cannot say when investigating it, 
that they do not find facts and argu- 
ments to demonstrate what is set forth, 
for the work contains a superabundance 
of such" {Con., p. 112). 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUN VAN 



Of people who, without regard to 
investigation and evidence, have 
capriciously held that Bunyan was 
not a Gipsy, I have said that 

" To gratify their own prejudices, 
people would degrade the illustrious 
dreamer, from being this great original, 
into being the off-scourings of all Eng- 
land. People imagine that they would 
degrade Bunyan by saying that he was 
a Gipsy. They degrade themselves who 
do not believe he was a Gipsy ; they 
doubly degrade themselves who deny 
it " (Dzs., p. 535). 

" To a candid and unprejudiced per- 
son, it should afford a relief, in think- 
ing of the immortal dreamer, that he 
should have been a member of this 
singular race, emerging from a state of 
comparative barbarism, and struggling 
upwards, amid so many difficulties, 
rather than he should have been of the 
very lowest of our race ; for in that case 
there is an originality and dignity con- 
nected with him personally that could 
not well attach to him in the event of 
his having belonged to the dregs of the 
common natives " {Dzs., p. 518). 

In dealing with the Gipsies in 
general, and especially with the bet- 
ter classes of them, I have said : — 

"It is this hereditary prejudice of 
centuries towards the name that consti- 
tutes the main difficulty in the way of 
recognition of these Gipsies by the world 
generally " {Dis., p. 443). 

" There is to be encountered, in the 
first place, the prejudice (I will not call 
it the hostility) of centuries, that has 
become a feeling of caste — the most 
difficult thing to grapple with. Yet no 
one can be blamed for that feeling ; it is 
but the result of preceding causes or 
circumstances" (Con., p. 155). 

" In contemplating the subject of the 
Gipsies, we should have a regard for the 
facts of the question, and not be led by 
what we might, or might not, imagine 
of it ; for the latter course would be 
characteristic of people having the moral 
and intellectual traits of children. The 
race might, to a certain extent, be 
judged analogously by what we know 
of other races ; but that which is pre- 
eminently necessary is to judge of it by 
facts ; for facts, in a matter like this, 

take precedence of everything 

The subject of two distinct races exist- 
ing upon the same soil is not very 



familiar to the mind of a British sub- 
ject. To acquire a knowledge of such 
a phenomenon, he should visit certain 
parts of Europe, or Asia, or Africa, or 
the New World " (Dzs., p. 505). 

And yet, great as is the prejudice 
against the Africans in the United 
States, it is limited in its nature; 
that is, it is confined to certain re- 
lations in life, and does not extend 
to denying their virtues or even 
their existence, as happens with the 
Gipsies in Europe, when in their hab- 
its they have assimilated with those 
that are generally termed natives of 
the soil. 

In my Disquisition and Contribu- 
tions, I have expatiated at some 
length on the means that should be 
adopted to improve the condition 
of the Gipsies generally ; and from 
them I make the following ex- 
tracts : — 

" It is unnecessary to say, that in a 
part of the race we still find much that 
is wild, and barbarous, and roguish. 
The latter part of the Gipsy nation, 
whether settled or itinerant, must be 
reached indirectly, .... for it does not 
serve much purpose to interfere too di- 
rectly with them as Gipsies. We should 
bring a reflective influence to bear upon 
them, by holding up to their observa- 
tion, some of their own race in respecta- 
ble positions in life, and respected by 
the world as men, although not known to 

be Gipsies In this way the Gipsies 

of all classes would see that they are 
not outcasts; but that the prejudices 
which people entertain for them are ap- 
plicable to their ways of life only, and 
not to their blood or descent, tribe or 

language There is hardly anything 

that can give a poor Gipsy greater plea- 
sure than to tell him something about 
his people, and particularly should they 
be in a respectable position in life, and 
be attached to their nation " (Dzs., p. 
529). 

" The poor Gipsies know well that 
there are many of their race occupying 
respectable positions in life ; perhaps 
they do not know many, or even any, 
of them personally, but they believe in 
it thoroughly. Still, they will deny it, 
at least hide it from strangers, for this 
reason among others, that it is a state 
to which their children, or even they 



6 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUN VAN. 



themselves, look forward, as ultimately 
awaiting them, in which they will man- 
age to escape from the odium of their 
fellow creatures, which clings to them 
in their present condition. The fact of 
the poor travelling Gipsies knowing of 
such respectable settled Gipsies gives 
them a certain degree of respect in their 
own eyes, which leads them to repel any 
advance from the other race, let it come 
in almost whatever shape it may. The 
white race, as I have already said, is 
perfectly odious to them [for they know 
well the dreadful prejudice which it 
bears towards them J. This is exactly 
the position of the question. The more 
original kind of Gipsies feel that the 
prejudice which exists against the race 
to which they belong is such, that an 
intercourse cannot be maintained be- 
tween them and the other inhabitants ; 
or, if it does exist, it is of so clandestine 
a nature, that their appearance, and it 
may be their general habits, do not al- 
low or lead them to indulge in it " {Dis., 
P- 436). 

" It is the Christian who should en- 
deavour to have the prejudice against 
the name of Gipsy removed, so that 
every one of the race should freely own 
his blood to the other, and make it the 
basis of a kindly feeling and a bond of 
brotherhood all around the world " 
(.Dzs., p. 534). 

In an appeal which I made to the 
Scottish Clergy, on The Social Eman- 
cipation of the Gipsies. I said : — 

" You will perceive at once the bear- 
ing that Bunyan's nationality will have 
on the raising up of the name of the 
Gipsy tribe. People will get accustomed 
and reconciled to the idea, and enter- 
tain a becoming respect for it, were it 
only on his account " {Con., p. 158). 

And in an article entitled, The 
Endowment of Research, I said : — 

" Settling this question in the affirma- 
tive would resemble a decision in a su- 
preme court of justice in a case that is 
representative of many others ; and 
could not fail to have an immense influ- 
ence on the raising up of the Gipsy 
tribe, to which Bunyan belonged " 
(Con., p. 203). 

Still, this will be no easy matter, 
for as I have already said : — 

" The principal difficulties in the way 
of receiving him as a Gipsy are the 



prejudice against the name, and the 
aversion, as well as the great difficulty, 
however willing, inherent in human 
nature, to adjust its ideas to a new 
state of things on a subject that should 
have been settled two centuries ago ' ' 
{Con., p. 202). 

John Bunyan, as I have already 
said, is a worthy of the highest or- 
der, and it may well be asserted of 
him that 

" It is showing a poor respect for 
Bunyan's memory, to deny him his na- 
tionality, to rob him of his birth-right, 
and attempt to make him out to have 
been that which he positively was not " 
{Dzs., p. 535). 

" It is, therefore, very likely that there 
was not a drop of common English 
blood in Bunyan's veins. John Bunyan 
belongs to the world at large, and Eng- 
land is only entitled to the credit of the 
formation of his character" {Dis., p. 
519). 

Of the Pilgrim's Progress Lord 
Macaulay wrote : — 

" For magnificence, for pathos, for 
vehement exhortation, for subtle dis- 
quisition, for every purpose of the poet, 
the orator, and the divine, this homely 
dialect — the dialect of plain working- 
men — was perfectly sufficient. There 
is no book in our literature on which 
we would so readily stake the fame of 
the old, unpolluted English language " 
as the Pilgrim's Progress; "no book 
which shows so well how rich that lan- 
guage is in its own proper wealth, and 
how little it has been improved by all 
that it has borrowed." " Though there 
were many clever men in England dur- 
ing the latter half of the seventeenth 
century, there were only two great crea- 
tive minds. One of these minds pro- 
duced the Paradise Lost ; the other the 
Pilgrim's Progress." 

In regard to a large part of the 
Gipsy race in Great Britain, living 
incognito, I have said : — - 

" All things considered, in what other 
position could the Gipsy race, in Scot- 
land especially, be at the present day 
than that described ? How can we im- 
agine a race of people to act otherwise 
than hide themselves, if they could, from 
the odium that attaches to the name ot 
Gipsy ? .... It necessarily follows that 
the race must remain shrouded in . its 



THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES AND JOHN BUN Y AN. 



7 



present mystery, unless some one, not 
of the race, should become acquainted 
with its history, and speak for it " 
(Dis., p. 427). 

" It is beyond doubt that there can- 
not be less than a quarter of a million 
of Gipsies in the British Isles, who are 
living under a grinding despotism of 
caste ; a despotism so absolute and odi- 
ous, that the people upon whom it bears 
cannot, as in Scotland, were it almost 
to save their lives, even say who they 
are " (Dis., p. 440). 

"This peculiar family of mankind 
has been fully three centuries and a half 
in the country, and it is high time that 
it should be acknowledged, in some form 
or other ; high time, certainly, that we 
should know something about it " {Dis., 
p. 529). 

" In Europe the race has existed, in 
an unacknowledged state, for a greater 



length of time than the Jews dwelt in 
Egypt. And it is time that it should be 
introduced to the family of mankind, in 
its aspect of historical development " 
{Dt's., p. 532). 

It as presumed that so purely an 
English subject as John Bunyan 
and the Gipsies in general will not 
prove of indifferent interest to the 
university men of England ; whose 
academical training should be a 
guarantee that, in the discussion of 
it, they will at least see that " no 
denial or assertion is permitted un- 
less it is accompanied by evidence 
or an argument in its favour " (Con., 
p. 204). If they decline the re- 
sponsibility, who else can be ex- 
pected to assume it ? 



THE 



ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 

AND THE 

GIPSIES.* 



HAVING written a good deal on 
the Gipsies, I looked with con- 
siderable curiosity to see what would 
be said of them in the new edition 
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica j 
believing that a publication of that 
kind would not only be abreast 
of the age, but if possible in ad- 
vance of it, on any subject of which 
it would take notice. I also con- 
sidered that, while its writers would 
be allowed to show how their minds 
ran in their articles, it would be ex- 
pected of them to give what others 
had said, and be as full, discrimina- 
ting and impartial as the space at 
their command would admit of. 

On turning to Mr. Francis H. 
Groome's article on the Gipsies I 
find the following :— " That hither- 
to the race has produced, outside 
the realm of music, none but mute 
geniuses is rather due to lack of 
education than of ability .... and 
John Bunyan, from parish registers, 
does not appear to have had one 
drop of Gipsy blood." (Cf. Notes 
and Queries, 5th ser., Vol. II.) 

This has reference to what, in re- 
ply to it, I wrote at great length in 



* Reprinted from the London Weekly 
Review, of the 26th June, 1880. 

(8) 



Notes and Queries, of the 27th 
March, 1875, showing the utter un- 
reasonableness in concluding that 
John Bunyan was not a Gipsy, be- 
cause that in Bedfordshire there are 
records of baptisms, marriages and 
burials, between 1581 and 1645, of 
people of the same name (variously 
spelt) who evidently were not Gip- 
sies. 

Mr. Groome refers to Sinison's 
History of the Gipsies. In that work 
there is given an interesting inter- 
view between its author and two 
Gipsies — a father and son — at St. 
Boswell's (pp. 309-318), to which I 
added a note containing the follow- 
ing : — " If the world wishes to know 
who John Bunyan really was, it can 
find him depicted in our author's 
visit to this Scottish Gipsy family ; 
where it can also learn the meaning 
of Bunyan, at a time when Jews were 
legally excluded from England, tak- 
ing so much trouble to ascertain 
whether he was of that race or not " 
(P- 3*3)' And I gave a long argu- 
ment on the subject (pp. 506-523). 
I also discussed the question at 
length in Contributions to Natural 
History and Papers on Other Subjects 
(PP- i57- l6o ) 5 Edinburgh, 1875; 
and in an appendix to the American 



THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRIT A NNICA AND THE GIPSIES. 



edition of 1878 (pp. 200-204), under 
the head of The Endowment of Re- 
search. 

In my article in Notes and Quer- 
ies, among other things, I wrote as 
follows : — " Hence the two writers 
specially alluded to conclude in tri- 
umph, and perhaps with a nourish 
of trumpets, that John Bunyan 
could not possibly have been a Gip- 
sy, for the reason that others of the 
British race were of the same name ; 
and, as a corollary, that no one 
bearing a British name can, under 
any circumstances, be a Gipsy ! " 
and that " there is a great variety 
of native names among the race." 
I further answered the questions, 
" When, and for what purposes, and 
under what circumstances, did the 
Gipsies assume the Christian and 
surnames of Great Britain and Eu- 
rope generally ? " And I contrasted 
the extravagance of attempting to 
connect Bunyan with a " baronet 
and many respectable families " with 
what he said of himself : — " For my 
descent, it was, as is well known to 
many, of a low and inconsiderable 
generation; my father's house be- 
ing of that rank that is meanest and 
most despised of all the families in 
the land." I also alluded to his 
" great longing to be resolved about 
this question," whether his family 
" were of the Israelites or no," and 
his father's emphatic decision, " No, 
we were not ; " ideas utterly incon- 
sistent with his having been an or- 
dinary Englishman. 

I can easily understand why 
writers, like the one in The Book 
of the Bunyan Festival and The Su?i- 
day Magazine, knowing " very little, 
if anything, of the subject," should 
"have set out with preconceived 
ideas, popular impressions, or sup- 
positions and theories, and made 
their remarks dovetail into them ; " 
but I cannot reconcile it with the 
responsibility attaching to a writer 
in the Encyclopedia Britannica that 
he should assert that " John Bun- 
yan, from parish registers, does not 



appear to have had one drop of 
Gipsy blood " (when the presump- 
tion is that " very likely there was 
not a drop of common English 
blood in Bunyan's veins ") ; quot- 
ing from such writers, and ignoring 
the full and circumstantial disposal 
which, I think, I made of their fan- 
cies, saying nothing of what I had 
written elsewhere, as mentioned. 

Taking this as an illustration of 
the amazing lack of judgment (to 
say the least of it) on the part of 
Mr. Groome, it may be fairly said 
that it vitiates his entire article, ex- 
cepting what he may have quoted 
correctly from people whose in- 
formation or opinions may be 
deemed reliable ; saying nothing of 
what he has, or may have, left out, 
whether owing to a faulty judg- 
ment, or because it did not coin- 
cide with the ideas of himself or 
friends [or the public generally]. 

Mr. Groome' s article is in several 
respects deficient, and not " up to 
the times ; " but it would take up 
too much room to discuss them all in 
this Paper. For one thing, he has 
not given us what may be called 
the philosophy of the Gipsy ques- 
tion, so as to make it intelligible 
and interesting to the world at large 
— that is, what is meant by the word 
" Gipsy," irrespective of the Gipsy's 
blood, appearance, mode of life, 
character, calling, circumstances, 
education, or creed, or what consti- 
tutes a Gipsy ; and what it is that 
preserves the existence of the race 
individually and collectively, what- 
ever the change that may have come, 
or may yet come, over their con- 
dition. His only allusion to their 
way of settlement and the mixture 
of their blood, is when he speaks of 
the Enclosure Acts driving the race 
to " the smoky suburbs of great 
towns, or at best the outskirts of 
some watering place ; " and he adds : 
— Here, surrounded by Gentiles, 
the younger generation forget the 
wisdom of the Egyptians, relinquish 
time-honoured customs, and, wed- 



IO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA AND THE GIPSIES. 



ding with the sons and daughters 
of the land [as, indeed, they some- 
times do], widen the stream of Ro- 
man blood, and so diminish its 
depth." On the other hand, he 
says : — " In England we meet Gipsy 
Methodist preachers, actors, quack 
doctors, chimney sweeps, carpen- 
ters, factory hands," etc. But he 
makes no allusion to the vicissi- 
tudes attending the race as regards 
mixture of blood and change of 
habits or mode of life, from the 
days of Henry VIII. downwards. 
In the appendix alluded to I wrote 
as follows : — " The real interest, in 
the higher sense of the word, at- 
taching to this people is centred in 
the relation in which it ' stands to 
others around it, with reference to 
intermarriage and the destiny of the 
mixed progeny, and that of the tribe 
generally,' especially in English- 
speaking countries" (p. 200). In 
my Disquisition on the Gipsies (pub- 
lished in 1865) I said: — "Apart 
from my own knowledge, I ask, Is 
it not a fact that, a few years ago, 
a pillar of the Scottish Church at 
Edinburgh, upon the occasion of 
founding a society for the reforma- 
tion of the poor class of Scottish 
Gipsies, and frequently thereafter, 
said that he himself was a Gipsy ? " 
(p. 405). This had reference to the 
late Rev. Dr. Robert Gordon, of the 
High Church, Edinburgh. In the 
face of that fact, I may ask, why 
object to it being said that John 



Bunyan, two centuries previously, 
was a Gipsy ; or why should not a 
question like that be fully and fairly 
considered in an age which is one 
of investigation ? 

In discussing the question, " Was 
John Bunyan a Gipsy ? " I said in 
Contributions : — " It unfortunately 
happens that, owing to the peculi- 
arity of their origin, and the preju- 
dice of the rest of the population, 
the race hide the fact of their be- 
ing Gipsies from the rest of the 
world as they acquire settled hab- 
its, or even leave the tent, so that 
they never get the credit of any 
good that may spring from them as 
a people" (p. J 5 8). 

In his Chips from a German 
Workshop, Professor Max Miiller 
says : — " In order to discover truth, 
we must be truthful ourselves, and 
must welcome those who point out 
our errors as heartily as those who 
approve and confirm our discover- 
ies." 

Mr. Groome is full on the sub- 
ject of the Gipsy language. In the 
History of the Gipsies I said : — " It 
would be well for the reader to 
consider what a Gipsy is, irrespec- 
tive of the language which he speaks, 
for the race comes before the speech 

which it uses The language 

considered in itself, however inter- 
esting it may be, is a secondary 
consideration ; it may ultimately 
disappear, while the people who 
now speak it will remain " (p. 292). 



AMERICAN EDITION OF 1878, WITH APPENDIX. 



210 Pages, Octavo, Cloth. Price, $1.25. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL HISTORY, 

AND PAPERS ON OTHER SUBJECTS. 
BY JAMES SIMSON, 

EDITOR OF SIMSON'S "HISTORY OF THE GIPSIES." 



NOTICES OF THE BRITISH PRESS. 

Dublin University Magazine, July, 1875. 

"The principal articles in this volume that have reference to natural history 
originally appeared in Land and Water, and are, in many respects, highly interest- 
ing. Concerning vipers and snakes, we are presented with a good deal of informa- 
tion that is instructive, not only as regards their habits generally, but also with re- 
spect to points that are in dispute among naturalists." " For instance, it is a vexed 
question whether, under any circumstances, the young retreat into the stomach 
[inside] of the mother snake. A great authority, [?] Mr. Frank Buckland, affirms 
that they do not ; while our author is as positive that they do. And he certainly, 
with reason, contends that the question is entirely one of evidence, and, therefore, 
should be settled 4 as a fact is proved in a court of justice ; difficulties, suppositions, 
or theories not being allowed to form part of the testimony.' " "In support of his 
own views, Mr. Simson has collected a large body of evidence that undoubtedly 
appears authentic and conclusive." " Of the miscellaneous papers in this volume, 
the best is a critical study of the late John Stuart Mill. Taken altogether, the 
volume is very entertaining, and affords pleasing and instructive reading." 

Evening Standard, June 8, 1875. 

"It is with real pleasure we see these Contributions to Land and Watemo 
longer limited to the columns of a newspaper, whatever may be its circulation. 
For the excellence and charm of these papers we must refer the reader to the vol- 
ume before us, which cannot fail to interest and instruct its readers. Their variety 
and range may be gathered from the subjects treated : — Snakes, Vipers, English 
Snakes, Waterton as a Naturalist, John Stuart Mill, History of the Gipsies, and 
the Duke of Argyll on the Preservation of the Jews." 

London Courier, June, 1875. 

" The Natural History Contributions, which are very interesting, though par- 
taking largely of a controversial nature, deal chiefly with questions affecting snakes 
and vipers. Of the other Contributions, the most attractive and readable is the 
one which contests some of Mr. Borrow's conclusions in his well-known account of 
the Gipsies. Mr. John Stuart Mill forms the subject of a slashing dissertation, 
which is not likely to find much favour with the friends of the departed philosopher." 

Rochdale Observer, June 19, 1875. 

" The study of natural history has a peculiar charm for most people, but for 
Lancashire folk it seems to have a special interest. Perhaps the most striking 
feature of the book at the head of this notice is the variety of topies touched upon ; 



NOTICES OF THE BRITISH PRESS. 



topics which, although apparently incompatible and incongruous, are, nevertheless, 
both curious and interesting. The author certainly brings a large amount of special 
knowledge to the discussion of the questions he introduces, and the essays are un- 
doubtedly well written. Our readers will see that the work is full of controversial 
matter, embracing natural history, theology, and biography, and consequently will 
suit the taste of those who like to enter into discussions which excite the feelings, 
and in which abundance of energy and ability is displayed. The book is certainly 
ably written, and the author shows himself to be a man of large accomplishments," 

Liverpool Albion, June 18, 1875. 

4 ' The articles are written in a very readable manner, and will be found inter- 
esting even by those who have no special knowledge of natural history or interest 
in it. The Gipsies are competitors with the snakes for Mr. Simson's regards, and 
several papers are devoted to these mysterious nomadic tribes. Perhaps the most 
curious paper in the volume is written to prove that John Bunyan was a Gipsy, and 
a very fair case is certainly made out, principally from Bunyan's own autobiographi- 
cal statements. With the exception of the papers on John Stuart Mill, to which we 
have already alluded, and which are far worse than worthless, the book is one 
which we can recommend." 



Newcastle Courant, June 11, 1875. 

" The bulk of these Contributions appeared in Land and Water. We think the 
author has done well to give them to the public in the more enduring form of a well 
got up volume. The book contains, also, a critical sketch of the career of John 
Stuart Mill ; some gossip about Gipsies ; and the Duke of Argyll's notions about 
the preservation of the Jews. Altogether, the book is very readable." 

Northern Whig, June 17, 1875. 

"This volume consists of Contributions to Land and Water by a writer well- 
known as the author [editor] of a standard book on the Gipsies, and is evidently 
the production of a clear, intelligent, and most observant mind. Mr. Simson adds 
a number of miscellaneous papers, including a masterly, though severe, criticism 
of John Stuart Mill — ' his religion, his education, a crisis in his history, his wife, 
Mill and son,' — as well as several desultory papers on the Gipsies, elicited, for the 
most part, by criticisms on his work on that singular race." 

Western Times, June 29, 1875. 

" The preface to this volume is dated from New York, and the contents bear 
marks of the free, racy style of transatlantic writers. The volume closes with a 
paper on the ' Preservation of the Jews.' The writer deals with his several sub- 
jects with marked ability, and his essays form a volume which will pay for reading, 
and therefore pay for purchasing." 

Daily Review, June 11, 1875. 

" We need only mention the other subjects — Waterton as a Naturalist, Roman- 
ism, John Stuart Mill, Simson's History of the Gipsies, Borrow on the Gipsies, the 
Scottish Churches and the Gipsies, Was John Bunyan a Gipsy? and, of course, the 
literary ubiquitous Duke of Argyll on the Preservation of the Jews. The only pa- 
per we have not ventured to look at is the last, in the dread that on this question 
the versatile Duke might be found, as in the matter of the Scottish Church, verify- 
ing the French proverb — 77 va chercher midi a quatorze heures — a work in which the 
author of this volume is an adept, in quiet, quaint, and clever ways, however, 
which make it interesting." 



NEW YORK: JAMES MILLER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

VIPERS AND SNAKES GENERALLY, J 

WHITE OF SELBORNE ON THE VIPER, . . . . . 10 

WHITE OF SELBORNE ON SNAKES, 17 

SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG, ..... 23 
SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG, ..... 25 

SNAKES CHARMING BIRDS, 30 

Mr. FRANK BUCKLAND ON ENGLISH SNAKES, .... 31 
Mr. GOSSE ON THE JAMAICA BOA SWALLOWING HER YOUNG, . 33 

AMERICAN SNAKES, . 36 

AMERICAN SCIENCE CONVENTION ON SNAKES, ... 36 
CHARLES WATERTON AS A NATURALIST, .... 39 

ROMANISM, 49 

JOHN STUART MILL : A STUDY. 

HIS RELIGION, 69 

HIS EDUCATION, 82 

*' A CRISIS IN HIS HISTORY, ... 90 
HIS WIFE, ...... 97 

MILL AND SON, ...... 105 

SIMSON'S HISTORY OF THE GIPSIES, 11 1 

Mr. BORROW ON THE GIPSIES, 112 

THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES AND THE SOCIAL EMANCIPATION 

OF THE GIPSIES, 150 

WAS JOHN BUNYAN A GIPSY ? 157 

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL ON THE PRESERVATION OF THE 

JEWS 161 

INDEX 171 

APPENDIX. 

I. JOHN BUNYAN AND THE GIPSIES, 183 

II. Mr. FRANK BUCKLAND AND WHITE OF SELBORNE, . 187 

III. Mr. FRANK BUCKLAND ON THE VIPER, . . . .192 

IV. THE ENDOWMENT OF RESEARCH 199 



PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 



This work was stereotyped and printed in this city in 1875, 
but allowed to remain in sheets till now, for various reasons, 
among which was the dullness in the Book Trade and in busi- 
ness generally. An edition, however, was published in Great 
Britain from duplicates of the plates. All of the subjects treated 
are of a permanent nature and interest, even including John 
Stuart Mill as a representative man. The book has gained 
greatly by the delay, inasmuch as it now contains an Appen- 
dix of Comments on British Criticisms, and in further eluci- 
dation of the questions discussed. 

The work was set up in its present form for reasons satis- 
factory to the author. The only part of it that has appeared 
anywhere before is about twenty-six pages, published in London, 
in Land and Water and Notes and Queries, as explained at the 
bottom of each article ; and an Appeal to the Scottish Clergy 
(similarly marked), which was distributed privately in 1871. 

The Publisher cannot help remarking that, in his opinion, 
justice has not apparently been done to this book in Great 
Britain ; as if the evidence gathered in America were not suffi- 
cient to satisfy the Press there, or, it may be, because it in- 
terferes with, or sets aside, its ideas regarding the matters and 
persons under investigation. 



New York, August 15, 1878. 



SECOND EDITION. 



SIMSON'S HISTORY OF THE GIPSIES. 

575 Pages. Crown 8vo. Price, $2.00. 



NOTICES OP THE AMERICAN PKESS. 

National Quarterly Heview.—" The title of this work gives 
a correct idea of its character ; the matter fully justifies it. Even in its 
original form it was the most interesting and reliable history of the 
Gipsies with which we were acquainted. But it is now much en- 
larged, and brought down to the present time. The disquisition on the 
past, present, and future of that singular race, added by the editor, 
greatly enhances the value of the work, for it embodies the results of 
extensive research and careful investigation." " The chapter on the Gip- 
sy language should be read by all who take any interest either in com- 
parative philology or ethnology ; for it is much more curious and in- 
structive than most people would expect from the nature of the subject. 
The volume is well printed and neatly bound, and has the advantage of 
a copious alphabetical index." 

Congregational Mevietv. (Boston.) — "The senior partner in 
the authorship of this book was a Scotchman who made it his life-long 
pleasure to go a 1 Gipsy hunting,' to use his own phrase. He was a per 

sonal friend of Sir Walter Scott His enthusiasm was genuine, his 

diligence great, his sagacity remarkable, and his discoveries rewarding." 
" The book is undoubtedly the fullest and most reliable which our lan- 
guage contains on the subject." " This volume is valuable for its in- 
struction, and exceedingly amusing anecdotically. It overruns with the 
humorous." "The subject in its present form is novel, and we freely 
add, very sensational." " Indeed, the book assures us that our country- 
is full of this people, mixed up as they have become, by marriage, with 
all the European stocks during the last three centuries. The amalgama 
tion has done much to merge them in the general current of modern 
education and civilization ; yet they retain their language with closest 
tenacity, as a sort of Freemason medium of intercommunion ; and 
while they never are willing to own their origin among outsiders, they 
are very proud of it among themselves." " We had regarded them as 
entitled to considerable antiquity, but we now find that they were none 
other than the ' mixed multitude ' which accompanied the Hebrew ex- 
ode (Ex. XII 38) under Moses — straggling or disaffected Egyptians, who 
went along to ventilate their discontent, or to improve their fortunes. 
.... We are not prepared to take issue with these authors on any of 
the points raised by them." 

Methodist Quarterly Review. — " Have we Gipsies among 
as ? Yea, verily, if Mr. Simson is to be believed, they swarm our country 
in secret legions. There is no place on the four quarters of the globe 
where some of them have not penetrated. Even in New England a sly 
Gipsy girl will enter the factory as employe, will by her allurements 
'Tin a young Jonathan to marry her, and in due season, the 'cute gen- 
tleman will find himself the father of a young brood of intense Gipsies. 
The mother will have opened to her young progeny the mystery and 

(i) 



NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN PRESS. 



tht /omance of its lineage, will have disclosed its birth-right connection 
with a secret brotherhood, whose profounder Freemasonry is based on 
blood, historically extending itself into the most dim antiquity, and 
geographically spreading over most of the earth. The fascinations of 
this mystic tie are wonderful. Afraid or ashamed to reveal the secret 
to the outside world, the young Gipsy is inwardly intensely proud of 
his unique nobility, and is very likely to despise his alien father, who is 
of course glad to keep the late discovered secret from the world. Hence 
dear reader, you know not but your next neighbour is a Gipsy." " The 
volume before us possesses a rare interest, both from the unique charac- 
ter of the subject, and from the absence of nearly any other source of 
full information. It is the result of observation from real life." The 
language " is spoken with varying dialects in different countries, but 
with standard purity in Hungary. It is the precious inheritance and 
proud peculiarity of the Gipsy, which he will never forget and seldom 
reveal. The varied and skillful manoeuvres of Mr. Simoon to purloin or 
wheedle out a small vocabulary, with the various effects of the opera- 
tion on the minds and actions of the Gipsies, furnish many an amusing 
narrative in these pages," " Persecutions of the most cruel character 
have embittered and barbarized them. . . . Even now . . . they do not 
realize the kindly feeling of enlightened minds toward them, and view 
with fierce suspicion every approach designed to draw from them the se- 
crets of their history, habits, laws and language." " The age of racial 
caste is passing away. Modern Christianity will refuse to tolerate the 
spirit of hostility and oppression based on feature, colour, or lineage." The 
"book is an intended first step for the improvement of the race that forms 
its subject, and every magnanimous spirit must wish that it may prove 
not the last. We heartily commend the work to our readers as not only 
full of fascinating details, but abounding with points of interest to the 
benevolent Christian heart." " The general spirit of the work is em- 
inently enlightened, liberal, and humane." 

Evangelical Quarterly Review. — " iTie Gipsies, their race 
and language have always excited a more than ordinary interest. The 
work before us, apparently the result of careful research, is a compre- 
hensive history of" this singular people, abounding in marvelous inci- 
dents and curious information. It is highly instructive, and there is 
appended a full and most careful index — so important in every work." 

National Freemason. — "We feel confident that our readers 
will relish the following concerning the Gipsies, from the British Ma- 
sonic Organ : That an article on Gipsyism is not out of place in this Mag- 
azine will be admitted by every one who knows anything of the history, 
manners, and customs of these strange wanderers among the nations of 
the earth. The Freemasons have a language, words, and signs peculiar 
to themselves ; so have the Gipsies. A Freemason has in every country 
& friend, and in every climate a home, secured to him by the mystic in- 
fluence of that worldwide association to which he belongs ; similar are 
the privileges of the Gipsy. But here, of course, the analogy ceases 
Freemasonry is an Order banded together for purposes of the highest 
benevolence. Gipsyism, we fear, has been a source of constant trouble 
and inconvenience to European nations. The interest, therefore, which 
as Masons we may evince in the Gipsies arises principally, we may say 
wholly, from the fact of their being a secret society, and also from the 
fact that many of them are enrolled in our lodges. There are 



NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN PRESS. 



In the United Kingdom a vast multitude of mixed Gipsies, differing 
very little in outward appearance, manners, and customs from ordinary 
BritoDs; but in heart thorough Gipsies, as carefully and jealously 
guarding their language and secrets, as we do the secrets of the Masonic 
Order." " Mr. Simson makes masterly establishment of the fact that 
John Bunyan, the world-renowned author of the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' 
was descended from Gipsy blood." 

New York Independent. — " Such a book is the History of thb 
Gipsies. Every one who has a fondness for the acquisition of out-of-the- 
way knowledge, chiefly for the pleasure afforded by its possession, will 
like this book. It contains a mass of facts, of stories, and of legends 
connected with the Gipsies ; a variety of theories as to their origin . . . 
and various interesting incidents of adventures among these modern 
Ishmaelites. There is a great deal of curious information to be ob- 
tained from this history, nearly all of which will be new to Americans." 
" It is singular that so little attention has been heretofore given to this 
particular topic ; but it is probably owing to the fact that Gipsies are so 
careful to keep outsiders from a knowledge of their language that they 
even deny its existence." " The history is just the book with which to 
occupy one's idle moments ; for, whatever else it lacks, it certainly is 
not wanting in interest." 

New York Observer. — " Among the peoples of the world, the " 
Gipsies are the most mysterious and romantic. Their origin, modes of 
life, and habits have been, until quite recently, rather conjectural than 
known. Mr. Walter Simson, after years of investigation and study, 
produced a history of this remarkable people which is unrivalled for the 
amount of information which it conveys in a manner adapted to excite 
the deepest interest." " We are glad that Mr. James Simson has not 
felt the same timidity, but has given the book to the public, having en- 
riched it with many notes, an able introduction, and a disquisition upon 
the past, present, and future of the Gipsy race." " Of the Gipsies in 
Spain we have already learned much from the work of Borrow, but this 
is a more thorough and elaborate treatise upon Gipsy life in general, 
though largely devoted to the tribe as it appeared in England and Scot- 
land." " Such are some views and opinions respecting a curious people, 
of whose history and customs Mr. Simson has given a deeply interest- 
ing delineation." 

New York Methodist.— ' The Gipsies present one of the most 
remarkable anomalies in the history of the human race. Though they 
have lived among European nations for centuries, forming in some dis- 
tricts a prominent element in the population, they have succeeded in 
keeping themselves separate in social relations, customs, language, and 
in a measure, in government, and excluding strangers from real knowl- 
edge of the character of their communities and organizations. Scarcely 
more is known of them by the world in general than was know when 
they first made their appearance among civilized nations." " Another 
curious thing advanced by Mr. Simson is that of the perpetuity of the 

race He thinks that it never dies out, and that Gipsies, however 

much they may intermarry with the world's people, and adopt the hab- 
its of civilization, remain Gipsies, preserve the language, the Gipsy mode 
of thought, and loyalty to the race and its traditions to remote genera- 
tions. His work turns, in fact, upon these two theories, and the incl 



NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN PRESS. 



dents, facts, and citations from history with which it abounds, are all 
skillfully used in support of them " " There are some facts of interest 
in relation to the Gipsies in Scotland and America, which are brought 
out quite fully in Mr. Simson's book,"which "abounds in novel and 
interesting matter . . . and will well repay perusal." " Fertinent anec- 
dotes, illustrating the habits and craft of the Gipsies, may be picked up 
at random in any part of the book." 

New York Evening Post. — " The editor corrects some popular 
notions in regard to the habits of the Gipsies. They are not now, in 
the main, the wanderers they used to be. Through intermarriage with 
other people, and from other causes, they have adopted more stationary 
modes of life, and have assimilated to the manners of the countries in 

which they live As the editor of this volume says : 4 They 

carry the language, the associations, and the sympathies of their race, 
and their peculiar feelings toward the community with them ; and, as 
residents of towns, have greater facilities, from others of their race re- 
siding near them, for perpetuating their language, than when strolling 
over the country.' " " We have no space for such full extracts as we 
should like to give." 

New York Journal of Commerce. — " We have seldom 
found a more readable book than Simson's History of the Gipsies. A large 
part of the volume is necessarily devoted to tha local histories of fami- 
lies in England (Scotland), but these go to form part of one of the most 
interesting chapters of human history." " We commend the book as 
very readable, and giving much instruction on a curious subject." 

New York Times. — " Mr has done good service to the 

American public by reproducing here this very interesting and valuable 
volume." " The work is more interesting than a romance, and that it is 
full of facts is very easily seen by a glance at the index, which is very 
minute, and adds greatly to the value of the book." 

New York Albion. — " An extremely curious work is a History 
of the Gipsies." " The wildest scenes in ' Lavengro,' as for instance the 
fight with the Flaming Tinman, are comparatively tame beside some 
of the incidents narrated here." 

Hours at Home (now Scribner's Monthly),— ' Years 
ago we read, with an interest we shall never forget, Borrow 's book on 
the Gipsies of Spain. We have now a history of this mysterious race 
as it exists in the British Islands, which, though written before Bor- 

row's, has just been published. It is the result of much time and 

patient labor, and is a valuable contribution toward a complete history 
of this extraordinary people. The Gipsy race and the Gipsy language 
are subjects of much interest, socially and ethnologically." "He esti- 
mates the number of Gipsies in Great Britain at 250,000, and the whole 
number in Europe and America at 4,000,000." " The work is what it 
professes to be, a veritable history— a history in which Gipsy life has 
been stripped of everything pertaining to fiction, so that the reader 

will see depicted in their true character this strange people . .And 

yet, these pages of sober history are crowded with facts and incidents 
stranger and more thrilling than the wildest imaginings of the roman- 
tic school." 



NEW YORK: JAMES MILLER. 



Ever since entering Great Britain, about the year 1506, tht 
Gipsies have been drawing into their body the blood of the ordin- 
ary inhabitants and conforming to their ways; and so prolific has 
the race been, that there cannot be less than 250,000 Gipsies of all 
castes, colours, characters, occupations, degrees of education, cul- 
ture, and position in life, in the British Isles alone, and possibly 
double that number. There are many of the same race in the 
United States of America. Indeed, there have been Gipsies in 
America from nearly the first day of its settlement ; for many of 
the race were banished to the plantations, often for very trifling 
ofFences, and sometimes merely for being by " habit and repute 
Egyptians." But as the Gipsy race leaves the tent, and rises to 
civilization, it hides. its nationality from the rest of the world, so 
great is the prejudice against the name of Gipsy. In Europe and 
America together, there cannot be less than 4,000,000 Gipsies in 
existence, jonn Bunyan, the author of the celebrated Pilgrim's 
Progress, was one of this singular people, as will be conclusively 
shown in the present work. The philosophy of the existence of 
the Jews, since the dispersion, will also be discussed and established 
in it. 

When the "wonderful story" of the Gipsies is told, as it ought 
to be told, it constitutes a work of interest to many classes of read- 
ers, being a subject unique, distinct from, and unknown to, the rest 
of the human family. In the present work, the race has been treated 
of so fully and elaborately, in all its aspects, as in a great meas- 
ure to fill and satisfy the mind, instead of being, as heretofore, little 
better than a myth to the understanding of the most intelligent 
person. 

The history of the Gipsies, when thus comprehensively treated, 
forms a study for the most advanced and cultivated mind, as weli 
as for the youth whose intellectual and literary character is still to 
be formed ; and furnishes, among other things, a system of science 
not too abstract in its nature, and having for its subject-matter the 
strongest of human feelings and sympathies. The work also seeks 
to raise the name of Gipsy out of the dust, where it now lies j 
while it has a very important bearing on the conversion of the 
Jews, the advancement of Christianity generally, and the develop- 
ment of historical and moral science. 



London, October \oth, 1865. 



THE 



English Universities and John Bunyan 



ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA AND THE GIPSIES, 



BY 

JAMES SI MS ON, 

Editor of 

"SIM son's history of the gipsies," 
and Author of 

contributions to natural history and papers on other subjects," and 
"charles waterton, naturalist." 



NEW YORK 

JAMES MILLER, PUBLISHER, 779 BROADWAY 
EDINBURGH : MACLACHLAN & STEWART. 
LONDON : BAILLI ERE, TYNDALL & CO. 
1880. 



